Posts Tagged ‘Chris Perry’

The revolving door at the General Motors marketing department has been spinning fast the last couple years, and nowhere is that more apparent than Chevrolet which is losing another top manager as 2013 draws to a close.

The latest to depart is Chris Perry, who has been overseeing the Chevy brand’s U.S. marketing operations. Perry joined GM in 2010 after a stint at Hyundai. Though his unexpected departure is creating plenty of buzz, there’s no clear explanation for the move which comes just weeks after Perry’s boss, Chevy global sales and marketing chief Alan Batey was appointed the new president of GM North America.

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For his part, Batey kept his comment on Perry’s departure short and sweet, noting “GM would like to thank Chris for his dedication and contributions, and wishes him well in all his future endeavors.”

GM has continued using Facebook's free services, even launching this new app. Now it will try paid ads again.

General Motors has decided to ‘Friend” Facebook again after turning thumbs down on the wildly popular social network just prior to its flawed IPO last year.

For now, however, GM says it’s just testing opportunities and isn’t quite ready to click the “Like” button, waiting to see if Facebook really can help it sell more cars.

“Chevrolet is testing a number of mobile advertising solutions, including Facebook, as part of its ‘Find New Roads’ campaign,” said Chevrolet’s vice president of U.S. marketing Chris Perry. “Today, Chevrolet is launching an industry-first ‘mobile-only’ pilot campaign for the Chevrolet Sonic.”

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Like most automakers, GM has had a high-profile presence on the world’s largest social network service, largely focusing on its ability to post free content that millions of fans, owners and potential buyers routinely check out. But last May, GM’s global marketing czar Joel Ewanick ordered the maker to pull an estimated $10 million annual budget, explaining that it didn’t be generating sufficient results.

In the latest in a series of surprise moves, General Motors has decided to boycott next January’s Super Bowl advertising extravaganza in protest over a huge increase in advertiser rates.

The decision follows word that the maker will also pull its ads off Facebook, the social media site that is today on its way to what could be the largest IPO in U.S. history. But insiders say GM is weighing more heavily than ever the perceived payoff for its estimated $4.5 billion ad budget, backing out of purchases that might deliver a halo but relatively little in terms of actual results.

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“We continue to understand the value the Super Bowl provides,” said GM marketing spokesman Pat Morrissey, “but with the continued increase in price we just can’t justify it,” he said confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal itself attributed to the maker’s marketing czar Joel Ewanick.

An explosion at the General Motors battery lab is unlikely to have any impact on the newfound sales momentum of the Chevrolet Volt, contended the brand’s marketing chief.

The maker certainly has to hope so, considering the brief setback in sales that followed word of several fires involving Volt batteries following federal crash tests last year. Demand for the plug-in hybrid slumped sharply during the first two months of this year – though sales rebounded in March as U.S. fuel prices soared towards record levels.

“They weren’t even testing a Volt battery,” said Chris Perry, vice president of global marketing for Chevrolet, during an appearance at a charity event in Detroit.

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GM appeared to have turned the corner with Volt in March when sales rose to 50% more than their previous peak due to a push to fill the pipeline to dealers across the country. But last week’s explosion, which injured six employees – sending one to the hospital – has once again raised issues about
the dangers inherent in lithium-ion batteries.

The only thing constant is change, goes the old saying, and that has become especially true in the automotive world, where jobs and titles have been changing fast, in recent months, particularly on the marketing side.

The latest round of musical chairs sees a long-time General Motors veteran, Steve Shannon, land in Korean territory, while Marty Collins, a one-time Ford executive has to hope he can remember where the executive washroom is as he heads back to Dearborn after four years with retail giant Group 1 Automotive.

Steve Shannon was a seemingly fast-rising star until his sudden departure from GM, in March 2010. He was serving as the general manager of the Cadillac division but fell victim to one in the seemingly endless series of cuts launched by former CEO Ed Whitacre (and since continued by new Chief Executive Dan Akerson).

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The 52-year-old Shannon follows in the footsteps, ironically, of two marketing chiefs snagged by GM. Joel Ewanick, the first to migrate to Detroit, is now the American giant’s global marketing director. His long-time lieutenant, and then successor, at Hyundai, Chris Perry, followed Ewanick to GM last August. Perry is now North American marketing chief.

As others, far more literate than I, have written and attested these past sad days of remembrance, David E. Davis, along with his automotive accomplishments, was the epitome of a bon vivant, raconteur and boulevardier, the personification of the Renaissance man and a damned good friend.

David E. and I first met at Campbell-Ewald in the early ‘70’s when he was the creative director and I was a suit but we hit it off. He suffered all suits poorly. So I must assume he took pity on me. If DED didn’t like an interoffice memo one of two rubber stamps would be stamped and returned. One said Bull Shit the other Don’t Patronize Me. Wish now I’d saved mine.

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After both of us moved on to entrepreneurial endeavors, our paths seldom crossed but were highlighted when we met in London at Turnbull and Asser while both of us were ordering shirts. Then, ten years ago, after my first ad review column appeared in Automotive News, he called complimenting me on the new career. And thus began a regular series of lunches and dinners in Ann Arbor to discuss today and tomorrow but seldom sad or bad yesterdays along with tidbits about good friends, former colleagues, superb wines, great cars and the wonders of bespoke clothing and fine shirts.

Since emerging from bankruptcy, last year, General Motors has struggled to pick up its normally torpid pace, and no one seems to be more willing to move on Silicon Valley time more than the maker’s new marketing czar, Joel Ewanick.

Since arriving in Detroit, earlier this year, from Hyundai — via a brief detour to Nissan — Ewanick has shown himself anything but content with the status quo at GM’s oft-maligned marketing operations. The former Hyundai wiz kid has tossed out old ad agencies and created new alliances. Now, Ewanick is at it again, shuffling management at GM’s largest and most important brand.

Then again, ousted Chevy General Manager Jim Campbell didn’t exactly help his own cause, his relocation coming just two months after attaching his name to a much-maligned memo imploring GM employees to say “Chevrolet” rather than the popular “Chevy” nickname.

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The affable Campbell was generally well-liked within the traditional GM organization. But the old-boys network has never been weaker at the company, as Ewanick’s soon-to-retire boss, CEO Ed Whitacre, has proven repeatedly, over the last 14 months, with his own grand realignments. Now, it would appear that Ewanick is looking to stamp his own imprint on the company. And, three months after arriving at GM, he is placing one of his own guys, former Hyundai marketer Chris Perry, in the critical position of running GM’s biggest and most important division.(more…)